Airlines Unite! Act now!
07-12-2008, 12:33 PM
#51
Retired
Joined APC: Feb 2008
Position: whale wrangler
Posts: 3,527
opposing view
This is still a FREE country and people are still Free to choose where and how they want to invest their hard earned dollars and if they want to speculate then so be it ,once we start to dictate and punish others on how they choose to invest then we have over stepped our bounds as a Free society and when and if that happens I,m outta here and on my way to the polynesian islands 
I,ve said it in other posts and I, ll say it again .
We have no one to BLAME but ourselves for this mess we are in ,30 years we sat on our assets and did nothing and now that the chickens have come home to roost we want to blame others for our short falls I,d say that was a bit selfish and pathetic to say the least .
You make your bed and you lay in it !
God how I hate the 21st century !
I,ve said it in other posts and I, ll say it again .
We have no one to BLAME but ourselves for this mess we are in ,30 years we sat on our assets and did nothing and now that the chickens have come home to roost we want to blame others for our short falls I,d say that was a bit selfish and pathetic to say the least .
You make your bed and you lay in it !
God how I hate the 21st century !
07-12-2008, 12:56 PM
#52
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2008
Position: 767 FO
Posts: 396
I believe speculation plays a very minor role in the oil prices we're seeing today. Supply is the fundamental issue, it's just that the tight supply has induced a sort of paranoia that causes $5-10 swings in the price of oil. Less than a week ago there was a fleeting sense of optimism that oil prices were receding...down to a bargain buy @ $136/bbl fueled by rumors that the American dollar was getting stronger (false) and that supply for the week was greater than expected.
Then the Iranians tried to flex their muscle(which they don't have), fired some test missiles, concerns re: supply were exacerbated by "what if" scenarios concerning an interuption in supply from the middle-east due to a full-scale war w/ Iran. So oil shot back up to $146/bbl.
In my view, these minor swings are the net result of speculation. The fundamental is that supply is tight, production has peaked/flattened out at about 85 million bbl/day give or take a million, and demand is skyrocketing worldwide due to impressive growth figures out of China and India...China still growing about 8 percent/year, that requires quite a lot of oil to sustain. There are also some other emerging countries/economies that are straining the system. In other words, more and more countries are competing for those 85 million/bbl of oil per day, which will necessitate price increases across the board. Don't need to be an economist to figure that out.
The net price of oil will remain high. I believe this is attributed to the fundamentals of supply and demand/production capacity. In adopting a nuanced view, I do think speculation plays a small part in the rise and fall of prices...just not as large a part as production capacity vs. supply.
How is this relevant to our thread? The way I see it, most of this info. has been around since the 1950's. We all knew these days would come, we just didn't bank on it happening during our lifetime. Well, they're here, our CEOs had ample time to mitigate the consequences...that's why they get paid the big bucks, right? No whining, no excuses, they did a terrible job of managing so many of these airlines. But of course, they can't take responsiblity for this, so they sign a form letter and turn to their main lobbyist in Washington, the Air Transport Association, to try and make it look like none of it was their fault. I don't blame the CEOs for the price of oil, but it is their job and duty to lead the airlines through these difficult times, not point fingers and make excuses.
Personally, I think a bunch of the CEOs on that list should be castrated so their kind don't muck up anything else...a little harsh, but that would certainly be more effective than a form letter to the public.
Then the Iranians tried to flex their muscle(which they don't have), fired some test missiles, concerns re: supply were exacerbated by "what if" scenarios concerning an interuption in supply from the middle-east due to a full-scale war w/ Iran. So oil shot back up to $146/bbl.
In my view, these minor swings are the net result of speculation. The fundamental is that supply is tight, production has peaked/flattened out at about 85 million bbl/day give or take a million, and demand is skyrocketing worldwide due to impressive growth figures out of China and India...China still growing about 8 percent/year, that requires quite a lot of oil to sustain. There are also some other emerging countries/economies that are straining the system. In other words, more and more countries are competing for those 85 million/bbl of oil per day, which will necessitate price increases across the board. Don't need to be an economist to figure that out.
The net price of oil will remain high. I believe this is attributed to the fundamentals of supply and demand/production capacity. In adopting a nuanced view, I do think speculation plays a small part in the rise and fall of prices...just not as large a part as production capacity vs. supply.
How is this relevant to our thread? The way I see it, most of this info. has been around since the 1950's. We all knew these days would come, we just didn't bank on it happening during our lifetime. Well, they're here, our CEOs had ample time to mitigate the consequences...that's why they get paid the big bucks, right? No whining, no excuses, they did a terrible job of managing so many of these airlines. But of course, they can't take responsiblity for this, so they sign a form letter and turn to their main lobbyist in Washington, the Air Transport Association, to try and make it look like none of it was their fault. I don't blame the CEOs for the price of oil, but it is their job and duty to lead the airlines through these difficult times, not point fingers and make excuses.
Personally, I think a bunch of the CEOs on that list should be castrated so their kind don't muck up anything else...a little harsh, but that would certainly be more effective than a form letter to the public.
Last edited by The Duke; 07-12-2008 at 01:00 PM. Reason: 1st grade spelling level
07-12-2008, 02:02 PM
#53
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Dec 2007
Position: Coach
Posts: 117
haha - we can move to the polynesians... or... the people that don't like living in a free country can move to venezuela!
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